Carrie Jacobs Bond
b. August 11, 1862 Janesville, WI, USA. d. Dec. 28, 1946, Hollywood, CA, USA.
née: Carrie Jacobs
One of her distant relatives was John Howard Payne, who wrote the lyrics for "Home Sweet Home". She was only 12 years old when her father died, and she went to live with her grandfather. She had started piano at age nine, and made appearances as a child prodigy. Her marriage at age 18 soon ended in divorce. In 1887, she re-married Dr. Frank L. Bond, a Janesville, WI, physician.

A series of misfortunes then plagued the family. Dr. Bond lost all his money in a failed mining investment, in Iron River, MI. They moved to Chicago with their small son, and Carrie suffered a fall on an icy sidewalk that left her invalided. In 1895, Dr. Bond died, leaving the family penniless. She was able to support herself by renting rooms, painting china and taking in sewing. It was at this time that she decided to try writing and selling songs.

To raise capital for the venture, she gave a recital in Steinway Hall, in New York City, appearing in a dress made from an old lace curtain. With these profits, and $1500 borrowed from a neighborhood druggist, she set up shop in her bedroom. The venture basically went nowhere, until an old friend Walter Gale, bought an interest in her firm, and her songs started to sell in quantity.

She gave concerts in army camps during WW1. She also gave concerts at the White House during the administrations of Theodore Roosevelt and Warren G. Harding.

Her greatest hit was the 1909 "The End Of A Perfect Day". With the royalties of this song, Carrie was able to purchase a home in Southern California, where she lived in semi-retirement for the last 12 years of her life.

Perry Bradford
1893, Montgomery, AL, USA.
Overview
A successful black vaudevillian, songwriter, publisher, show producer, and bandleader. While still a teenager, he worked in Minstrel and Vaudeville shows. He later produced several black musicals. This slender, cigar chomping made some surprising claims ranging from discovering Bessie Smith to inventing the 'Black Bottom' dance craze.

Bradford was able to interest Okeh Records musical director, Fred Hagar, to record some of his tunes using Mamie Smith as vocalist. In a February 1920 session, using a all-white house-band, they recorded:
       "You Can't Keep A Good Man Down"
       "That Thing Called Love"
       "Crazy Blues". This record, generally credited with starting the Blues craze, sold so well that every other record company began signing female blues vocalists. Some historians claim that Sophie Tucker was scheduled to record Crazy Blues", but Mamie Smith was a last minute replacement when Tucker couldn't make the session. Considering the above, the claim seems to be a careless statement.

David Braham
b. 1838, London, England d. April 11, 1905 New York, NY, USA.
David is remembered today as the music composer for the famous vaudeville team of Harrigan and Hart. He originally studied the harp but later took up the violin. In 1856, at age 18, he emigrated to New York City. He found work as a violinist in the Tony Moore's Minstrels show. He next worked in the pit orchestras of many N.Y. theaters, finally becoming musical director of the famous Tony Pastor's Theater.

He started composing at around 1870, but really found success in 1873, when he started working with the team of (Ed) Harrigan and (Tony) Hart, writing the score for the 'The Mulligan Guard', a one-act vaudeville burlesque that lampooned organizations that made a fetish of appearing in uniform. Harrigan and Hart were writing their own shows, and Braham wrote a number of songs for them, with Ed Harrigan as lyricist. The success of these one-act shows encouraged Harrigan and Hart to produce a series of full-length 'Mulligan' shows, starting with 'The Mulligan Guard's Ball', which open on January 13, 1879 in New York City. The "Mulligan Guard" shows became a vogue that lasted for 10 years, with Braham writing the music and Harrigan the lyrics. Some of his songs for these shows were:
1879 from 'The Mulligan Guard's Ball'
       "The Babies on our Block"
       "The Skidmore Fancy Ball"

1879 from 'The Mulligan Guard's Chowder'
       "The Horseshoe From The Door"

1879 from 'The Mulligan Guard's Christmas'
       "The Pitcher of Beer"

1880 from 'The Mulligan Guard's Picnic'
       "Locked Out After Nine"

1880 from 'The Mulligan Guard's Nominee'
       "The Mulligan Braves"
       "The Skidmore Masquerade"

1880 from 'The Mulligan Guard's Surprise'
       "The Full Moon Union"

1882 from 'Squatter's Sovereignty'
       "Paddy Duffy's Cart"

1883 from 'McSorley's Inflation'
       "I Never Drank Behind The Bar"

However, it should be noted that Braham was also writing with other lyricists for other shows, at the same time. Among the lyricists were:
With lyricist C.L.Stout, he wrote;
       "Emancipation Day"
       "The Eagle"
       "Eily Machree", a hit for minstrel George Coes.

With lyricist George Cooper;
       "To Rest Let Him Gently be Laid"

With lyricist Hartley Neville;
       "Sway the Cot Gently, for Baby's Asleep"

In 1885, Harrigan and Hart split up due to bitter personal quarrels. Both went their separate ways with each producing their own shows. In 1886, Edward Harrigan married Annie Braham, David's daughter uniting the two families. Braham thus became Edward's father-in-law. Braham continued to write with his lyricist-father-in-law Ed Harrigan for Harrigan's own productions.
The Database thanks Mr. Leslie J. Pasternack for this information on Ed Harrigan's marriage to David Braham's daughter.

1885, for show 'Old Lavender',
        "When Poverty's Tears Ebb and Flow"
        "Sweetest Love"
1890, for show, 'Reilly and the 400'
        "The Jolly Commodore"
        "Taking in the Town"
        "Maggie Murphy's Home"
1891, for show 'The Last of the Hogan's'.
        "Danny by my Side"
        "The Last of the Hogans"
        "Take a Day Off, Mary Ann"
1893, for show 'The Woolen Stocking'
        "They Never Tell All They Know"
1896, for show 'The Merry Malones', Harrigan's last production.
        "The Pride of the London Stage"

One of of the songs they wrote, "Danny by My Side" was sung by Al Smith, in 1933, at the 50th anniversary of the Brooklyn Bridge, in New York City.

David Braham died in 1905, 6 years before his lyricist Ed Harrigan.

Euday L. Bowman
b. Nov. 9th, 1887, Fort Worth, TX, USA. d. May 26, 1949, New York, NY, USA (on a business trip)
Bowman was educated in public schools, and later became an arranger for popular orchestras. The tall, lanky Texan lived out his life in Fort Worth, TX, with his sister, Miss Mary M. Bowman, in the family's old home at 818 So. Jennings Street. In later years, unable to earn a good living with his music, Bowman made his living collecting and selling paper salvage.

Bowman will always be remembered for his most famous composition, "Twelfth Street Rag", one of the most popular Rags ever written. It is little known today, that his sister, Mary, who was a music teacher, collaborated with him in writing the tune. Regretfully, he realised very little money from the tune, until shortly before his demise. Bowman, first published it himself, and shortly thereafter sold it for $100.00 to the Jenkins Music Publishers of Kansas City, MO. In 1937, the rights reverted back to him (and subsequently were transferred to Shapiro-Bernstein Music Publishers of New York City; - current owners of the work).

Among the Rags that Bowman composed are:
       "Eleventh Street Rag"
       "Twelfth Street Rag"
       "Petticoat Lane Rag" (The above three named after streets in Kansas City, MO.
       "Colorado Blues"
       "Fort Worth Blues"
       "Kansas City Blues"
       "White Lily Dreams"
       "Shamrock Rag"
       "Tipperary Blues"
       "Old Glory On Its Way"

On Monday, August 14th, 1950, his belongings, and those of his sister, were sold at public auction to settle the estate. One of his old friends, Mrs. Myrtle Stewart, bought his piano for $46.00. He had originally bought in 1895 in Hartford, CT. The old car that Mr. Bowman used in his paper salvage business stood in the backyard. Mute evidence of his financial straits. Bowman was the last of the early Ragtime composers. Upon their demise, Bowman and his sister left no heirs.